Tuesday, August 02, 2005
20-T hectares eyed for cavendish banana
By Jenny Molbog-Mendoza
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is planning to expand production areas for cavendish banana by 20,000 hectares until 2010.
Based on the roadmap drafted for Mindanao's top commodities, the expansion target for Cavendish variety is the biggest as compared to cardaba's 4,000 hectares; lakatan's 7,500 hectares; latundan's 9,000 hectares; and exotic banana's 2,000 hectares.
Cavendish constitutes the bulk of export earnings in banana, having posted a total of US$333 million in 2003.
Data obtained from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS), the island's banana production in 2003 reached 5.4 metric tons, up by 1.8 percent as compared to 2002's level of only 5.3 metric tons. Of this total, 30 percent accounted for Cavendish cultivar.
This promising figure, the DA said, is the major reason why the agency is eyeing on the further development of the industry.
Data from BAS likewise showed that as of 2003, there was already a total of 40,000 hectares of land planted to Cavendish banana in Mindanao, broken down as follows: 8,348 hectares in Region 9; 12,155 hectares in Region 10; 17,873 hectares in Region 11; 8,102 hectares in Region 12; 10,122 hectares in Region 13; and 17,490 hectares in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).
The agency said the industry's stakeholders should work together in order to achieve the island's expansion goal.
This objective would be one of the major topics of discussion during the Mindanao Agri-Fisheries Investment Forum slated on August 16 at the Apo View Hotel.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (August 2, 2005 issue)
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